Submarine signaling



(No Model.)

L. 1. BLAKE. SUBMARINE SIGNALING.

Patented Aug. '7, 1894.

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[ave/aw [Ma P72 Zia/h UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

LUOIEN I. BLAKE, OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS.

-, SUBMAR|NE SIGNALING.

srnorietcarron forming part of Letters Patent 'No. 524,239, dated August 7, 1894.

Application filed 'December ,22, 1893. Serial No. 491,424. (No model.)

u zen of the United States, residing at Law- 1 cable, or that extending from ful Im ships and the shore by the use rence, in.the county of Douglas and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useprovements in Submarine Signaling, of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanylng andforminga part of the same.

The invention which forms the subject of my present application is a method or system of electric communication more particularly designed for transmitting intelligence be-.. tween the shore and a light ship or other ves-. sels which is permanently anchored beyond speaking distance from the land. The practical difliculties .in maintaining telegraphic or telephonic communication between such t submarine cables laid from th up from the bottom to found -too serious to However well protec constant motion of the ship have been permit of their'adoption. ted the cable may be, the the ship produced by wind' .and tide, and the consequent twisting, chating and straining of the cables and their liability to foul with theanchor chain destroy or render them, useless in a very short time.

.My purpose is'todispense with the suspended porticnof the insulated or protected the bottom up to the-ship, and which is the only part of the cable that is especially liable to injury, and

' one of the ways in whichI have accomplished is by utilizingfthe anchor and this and still succeeded in maintaining perfect telephonic communication with the ship \chain as a part jot" the metallic circuit.

I have carried out my invention inthe fol lowing manner: An insulated cable was laid fromthe shore to a point. near a lightship where its core was electrically connected with the anchor of the ship. "The anchor chain was in metallic connection with the sheath- 5 ing of the vessel at the hawse pipe through which it passed. Between the sheathing of,

the ship and a submerged plate held at a short distance from the ships side a rhetallicrcircuit was established through a wir to which.

was connected a telephonic transmltter and? a receiver of very low resistance. Similar in struments were connected with the shore end e shore and brought of .the insulated cable, and batteries provided for the transmitters. With this arrangement perfectly clear speech was transmitted both from the shore and from the ship. through a very considerable length of intermediate cable. This plan, as described, may be'modiiied in variousways without material change in the result. For example, a transformer which converts from high to low potential" may be introduced between the cable and the anchor, the low resistance coil of the transformer having one pole to ground and theiother'to the anchor, while the high' resistance coil may have its ends connected with the conductors of a double cored cable, respectively, or one end to ground and the other to the cable core. Also, the anchor chain may be insulated from the ships sheathing, and in that case the sheathingotthe vessel may serve as the submerged plate.

The accompanying drawings will serve as an illustration of the manner-in which the invention is or may be carried into effect. 7

Figure 1 is a view showing the general relations of the ship. the shore and the signaling apparatus. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating the manner of using a transformer.

A designates any permanently anchored vessel such as a lightsh-ip.

B'is the chain and C the anchor.

D is an insulated-cable running from the At the shore station, and on board the ship are telephonic receivers F, F, transmitters G .G' and transmitting batteries H, H. The above named instruments at the shore end areconnected with the cable circuit in the usual manner, while those on the ship are in a circuit from the ships sheathing or the anchor chain to a submerged plate K, which is let down over the ship side or suspended in the water in any convenient any; or the ships sheathing, if thes may be introducedbetween them. This transformer has a high resistance coil, L, of which circuit may be from the anchor-chain to the In li'eu of connecting the cable directly to v the anchor, the transformer, shown in Fig. 2,

one terminal is connected with the insulated core of the cable while the other ends in a plate M lying on the bottom. The low resistance coil N has one terminal connected witha plate lying-on the bottom and the other connected with theanchon In practice I have foun'djt desirable to em} ploy on the ship a telephone of exceedingly .low electrical resistance, and it is desirable to maintain between the links'of the chain as good electrical contact as possible. For; this purposeit is preferable to employ chains of non-corroding metal, such tainable in the market.

I have described the system as applied to a permanently anchored lightship, but it is obvious that it may be applied to other analogous purposes, as for instance for 1naintain' ing communication between the shore and an isolated lighthouse built upon either a natubeing now Ohral or an artificial foundation and to whichi a cable connection is rendered difficult byexrocks.

posure to the action of the waves, driftice'or the like. In such case an insulated cablecarried from the shore to the light house would be liable to chafe and wear out against the ducting chain would be carried from the light house down to the bottom of the adjacent water, where it might be anchored in any suit tially insulated or incomplete metallic cir-- cuits' has been very frequently practiced, and I do not claim this broad 1y. My present claim,

By my present invention, a heaVy -cOns ecial way of'successfully accomplishing a of devices herein'before described.

What I claim is r 1. A system of signaling between an anchored light-ship and the l O comprising in combination telephonic or telegraphic signaling instruments and batteries on the ship and shore respectively, an insula cable e ,tending from the shore station to the ships anchor with, whichv the core of the cable is electrically connected, a conducting anchor chain, and a circuit on the ship from said chain to'a submerged metallic pla e, i cuit including the signaling instruments on .:.the ship, as set forth.

2. In a system of signaling between an anchored lightship and a shore station, the combination with telephonic signaling instruments at the shore station, and telephonic signaling instruments on the ship, of an insulated cable extending from the instruments onshore toa point near theanchoiga 'conducting anchor chain, a transformer interposed between the cable and the chain and the anchor chain and it's high resistance coil Y having its low resistance coil in circuit with however, is based upon the discovery of a 40 tempts haye'been complete failures. :lheinvention resides in the particular combination ing from the anchor chain to a submerged plate'over the ships side and including the instruments on the ship.-

- LUOIEN I. BLAKE. Witnesses: T r

E. E. RUSH,

F. H. HODDERL 

